


Requited Unrequited

by The_Uninspired



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, F/M, Friendship, Pining, Unrequited Love, drunk talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-24 04:00:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17697245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Uninspired/pseuds/The_Uninspired
Summary: Loving someone that doesn’t return the favor hurts.Sakura and Lee both know this.





	Requited Unrequited

At some point in the past two years they must have become friends. Sakura had always been important to Lee of course, but he could remember the skeptical, vaguely horrified way she used to watch him watch her. He wasn’t sure what had changed exactly. Not him, certainly. He’d continued to train every day and serve his precious village and smile at her whenever he got the chance. But at some point she must have decided he was worth her time, because at least once a week now they met for lunch or drinks or sometimes even a friendly spar. Lee joyfully treasured each and every moment she let them have together. Well, for the most part. Some moments hurt to hold so close in his heart.

The evening had started with a pleasant dinner, which had been followed by a fun couple of drinks, and then by a succession of drinks that became decreasingly fun and increasingly melancholy. They’d left the bar in search of something to cheer them both up, but by that point they both were crying and it was far too late to change the mood. They soon gave up any pretense of finding another bar and collapsed half-drunk on the nearest training field. Lee’s heart was aching now as he watched her sob.

“I know everyone thinks it’s stupid!” Sakura wailed, waving the empty bottle in her hand towards the full moon like it was responsible for all of her agonies. “And maybe it is stupid. Maybe I’m stupid! But I can’t control who I love. I’ve tried, okay? I’ve really tried not loving him! I know he’s mean and dangerous and a traitor and that he tried to kill Naruto. I know he doesn’t care about me at all, he probably hates me. I’ve really, really tried to let go. But I love him so much!” She rubbed away the tears with a clenched fist and keened. Lee fought the incredible need to wrap her in his arms and never let go.

Sakura turned to him with bleary, bloodshot eyes. Her hair was slick with sweat and tears, sticking to her blotchy face. She looked a bit like the whole world was ending. “I just want him to notice me.” She sniffed and took another drink, grimacing as the cheap alcohol went down. “Why won’t he notice me? Why did he never notice me? Not even once? I’m not so bad, you know. I’m not so bad.” She threw the bottle away and fell into her hands as she started to sob again in earnest. “Oh my god, I’m so pathetic!”

Lee scooted closer and wrapped an arm around her. She didn’t flinch or move away- in fact, she leaned into the embrace. She leaned against his shoulder and grabbed his knees as she cried. With his free arm Lee rubbed at his own tears. He tried to hold it together for Sakura but it was so hard when even his blood seemed to burn with sympathetic pain.

“You’re not pathetic at all, Sakura.” He reassured her. “You’re one of the most intelligent, talented, driven, beautiful kunoichi I’ve ever had the honor to know. If your youthful teammate failed to recognize you, the failure was entirely his own.”

Sakura began to cry even harder, and Lee froze up. He ran over his words in his head, trying to figure out what he’d said that could have upset her. He’d tried to be as honest and comforting as possible. He’d called her beautiful, hadn’t he? Had he accidentally demeaned or embarrassed her by bringing up her physical attractiveness? Was she offended as a kunoichi that he’d implied her beauty was as important as her hard-earned professional traits?

Lee opened his mouth to beg forgiveness, but he froze again when Sakura turned to face him. She looked somehow even more wretched, and Lee wanted to disappear for doing this to her.

“You still have a crush on me, don’t you?” She asked. She sounded horrified by the thought. Lee was caught in the awful spot between wanting to lie to assuage her fears and feeling that he owed her only the truth. She didn’t seem to even notice his dilemma. Instead she grabbed his arm and shook it. “Lee, I’m so sorry. I mean, I guess I just assumed that you grew out of it. But I should have known- and you’ve just sat there listening to me go on and on about Sasuke all night!” She grimaced. “You must think I’m the worst! I didn’t think about your feelings at all!”

Lee swallowed hard and wiped the tears from his eyes. “Don’t worry about me! You’re allowed to have problems, and I’m more than honored to be a shoulder for you to cry on. I only wish I could offer you more!”

She watched him with narrow eyes as if searching for the lie. When she didn’t find one she groaned and fell back onto the grass. Lee fell back too, and for a while they just watched the stars in the sky as their tears dried. It was a clear and beautiful night, each star like a window in the black heavens to that secret place where the sun slept. No one should hurt on a night like this. Lee was grown up enough to know it was a silly, naive thing to believe, but that didn’t stop him from believing it. Nights like this deserved to be perfect.

“Shit.” Sakura swore under her breath. Then she took a deep breath and shouted it out again. “Shit!”

She turned to look at Lee. Her eyes were still puffy and red but her tears had dried. “I’m sorry. Not for having feelings, or because I owe you something, because I don’t. But just… sorry.”

Lee took a deep breath and found the strength to smile at her. Just having the smile on his face made him feel a bit better, but the rush of warmth didn’t do much against the tangled-up unhappy mess in his chest. He kept smiling though, because even before he’d met Gai-sensei he’d learned the importance of acting the way you want to feel even before you actually feel it. He smiled at Sakura and relaxed when she gave him a small, shaky smile in return.

“I’m sorry too.” He said.

Her smile deepened at that, almost like a laugh. Then she shook her head and turned back up toward the stars. She watched the stars, and he watched her watch them, until both of them fell asleep in the grass.

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of authors treat Sakura's crush on Sasuke as a kind of character-weakness, just more evidence that she's not taking herself seriously as a ninja. Maybe she was childish and inappropriate about it (she was thirteen after all), but even feelings that aren't well founded or returned are still real feelings. Growing up and gaining perspective isn't always enough to shake off that kind of deep-seated affection. And I think Lee, the victim of a similar kind of youthful infatuation, would sympathize.


End file.
